Prep water polo notes: Marin Catholic girls rally late for win against Tam

The Tam High girls water polo team was reminded of a very important lesson on Tuesday night: When playing Marin Catholic, never let your guard down.

Tam took the lead in the second half, but MC's Allison Galuszka scored two goals in the fourth quarter to give the Wildcats a 6-5 win.

"When it gets to the Tam and Drake games, it's such a huge rivalry and it's hard for us," Galuszka said. "So we knew, we were like, 'Okay, you've got to keep your composure, this is a team so we have to work as a team.' I was in the right place at the right time I guess. We had to work together and it kind of just developed."

Tam had a 4-3 lead after three quarters and added another goal by April Anderson early in the fourth before MC's Mary Elizabeth Ward closed the gap. Galuszka tied it, and gave the Wildcats the lead with a minute left in the game.

"I'm glad we were able to hang in there, come back from a two-goal deficit and squeak out a win," MC coach Andrew Morris said.

Galuszka put Marin Catholic (6-0) on the board late in the first quarter, but the game was tied 2-2 at halftime after late goals by Tam's Alex Takeshita and Miki Dahlke.

She added another goal in the third, to keep MC alive after Ali Glave and Kendra Carr put the Hawks up again.

"I'm happy the girls maintained their composure and did a good job on the defensive end, and offense — we're going to work on that a little bit more," Morris said.

They'll have to work quickly: MC will face defending MCAL champion Drake in San Anselmo on Tuesday in the final game of the regular season.

"We just have to keep going up and up," said MC goalie Kate Graham. "No matter what happens, work from it, learn from it and just keep adding to what we've been learning throughout this entire season. It was put at the end and good thing, because we've been building for it."

For Tam (4-2), the postseason excitement dimmed a bit with the loss.

"They're bummed, they're disappointed," Tam coach Katie MacLean said. "They saw they had it and let it slip. Again, kind of a roller-coaster game both ways, they had some shining moments and we had some "... In the end I think our errors caught up to us a little bit."

Tam plays San Marin and Redwood before league playoffs begin on Oct. 31, where the Hawks will likely find themselves opposite Marin Catholic once again.

"We know we're going to play them again," Galuszka said. "This is the same thing that happened last year. We won this game, they came back for vengeance (in playoffs) and beat us by one goal. We're all walking on eggshells."